Friday, June 29, 2007

LieStoppers blog:Hudson Allows "one final insult to the citizens of Durham County" -- Citing his superior understanding of the law and concern for legal issues, Durham County Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson continued yesterday's hearing on the removal of Mike Nifong from the office of Durham County District Attorney until Monday in order to allow the disgraced DA the opportunity to resign from office after the end of the State's fiscal year...

Judge Hudson's newfound appreciation of proper service appears to be a reversal from the astute legal understanding he expressed earlier this week...

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Legal Genius

Question: What do you call a lawyer with an I. Q. of 50?Answer: Your honor.

Rodrick Vernard Duncan was charged with the slayings last October. Police continue to search for two other men seen fleeing from the scene after the shootings.

Nifong said he would handle the case personally and would seek the death penalty against Duncan.

After Nifong was disbarred and suspended as district attorney for his handling of the Duke University lacrosse team sexual assault case, Interim District Attorney Jim Hardin assigned the case to Assistant District Attorney Tracy Cline.

Hardin said they will review the entire case file before deciding how to proceed.

discussion:KC Johnson:Cline on Quadruple Homicide Case -- The move raises grave questions about Hardin's willingness to deal with the ramifications of the lacrosse case.

News & Observer:Mike Nifong: The transcript -- In May 2006, Mike Nifong gave the defense a 12-page report disclosing that DNA taken from the accuser's body did not match that of any member of the lacrosse team. He did not disclose that DNA from unidentified men had been found on her body and underwear, evidence favorable to the defense.

At the Bar disciplinary proceedings earlier this month, Nifong acknowledged that he should have immediately told the defense about the DNA from men not on the lacrosse team.

A transcript of the Sept. 22, 2006, hearing provides examples of Nifong's false statements. Quoted in this excerpt are Judge W. Osmond Smith III, Nifong and Brad Bannon, a defense lawyer. They discuss meetings and a report drawn up by Brian Meehan, director of DNA Security Inc., the private lab that did DNA testing for the prosecutor.

Smith: So his report [Meehan's May 12 report] encompasses it all?

Nifong: His report encompasses ever -- because we didn't -- they apparently think that everybody I speak to about, I talk about the facts of the case. And that's just, that would be counterproductive. It did not happen here.

Smith: So you represent there are no other statements from Dr. Meehan?

Nifong: No other statements. No other statements made to me.

Bannon: Just so I’m clear, Mr. Nifong is representing that the facts of the case weren’t discussed in those meetings.

Nifong: That is correct. The facts of the case, other than the fact that we were seeking a, the male fraction DNA.

Anne Blythe, News & Observer: Nifong doesn't appear at hearing -- On a day that Mike Nifong failed to show for one court hearing tied to his handling of the Duke lacrosse case, a Superior Court judge scheduled a different hearing on a criminal contempt allegation and threatened to arrest the suspended district attorney if he is a no-show.

Judge W. Osmond Smith III, the Superior Court judge assigned to the lacrosse case, entered a strongly worded and narrowly-focused order Thursday telling Nifong there was enough evidence to charge him with willfully making false statements in court.

The notice was entered the same morning that Orlando Hudson, the county's chief resident Superior Court judge, delayed ruling on a petition to oust Nifong because the suspended district attorney told a lawyer of new plans to resign on Monday.

The ouster proceeding and criminal contempt proceeding rarely have been used against prosecutors in this state.

In each case, the judges tapped lawyers in private practice to help prosecute Nifong, who is soon to be stripped of his law license.

Charles M. Davis, a lawyer from Louisburg, will act as Smith's prosecutor in the criminal contempt case. Smith scheduled the hearing July 26 in the Durham County courthouse...

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John Stevenson, Herald-SunNifong to be Arrested if No Show -- A judge suggested Thursday that former District Attorney Mike Nifong may have lied about evidence in the now-dismissed Duke lacrosse case, and set a July 26 hearing at which Nifong must explain himself or be fined and possibly jailed for contempt.

Superior Court Judge Osmond Smith, assigned by the state Supreme Court to oversee the lacrosse case, said in a written order that there was reason to believe Nifong "willfully and intentionally made false statements" about DNA results favorable to three Duke students accused of sexually assaulting an exotic dancer last year.

Specifically, Nifong indicated the results didn't exist when he apparently knew they did, according to the judge.

Smith said Nifong's alleged conduct was illegal and disrespectful to the judicial system. He also warned the former district attorney he may be arrested if he doesn't show up July 26 and has no "justification or reasonable excuse" for not being there.

The contempt hearing was requested by a team of defense lawyers, embittered at Nifong for putting their clients through a year of legal turmoil before the lacrosse case finally was tossed out in April and branded a sham by the state Attorney General's Office...

Duke Basketball Report:Nifong’s Troubles Worsen -- ... Judge Smith has set a contempt of court hearing for July 26 , and is threatening Nifong with jail if he doesn’t show up and explain himself.

The Durham Herald-Sun has had some amazingly biased coverage during this saga, but this paragraph by John Stevenson is just over the top: “The contempt hearing was requested by a team of defense lawyers, embittered at Nifong for putting their clients through a year of legal turmoil before the lacrosse case finally was tossed out in April and branded a sham by the state Attorney General’s Office.”

The emphasis is ours. Why inject emotion into his coverage? It’s not about being embittered. The attorneys are getting paid, and they won.

Mike Rosen, Rocky Mountain News:ROSEN: Equal sexes before the law -- How the mighty have fallen. To the falsely accused Duke lacrosse players, Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong once loomed as a powerful and terrifying figure, holding their future in his hands. Early in the affair, those innocent young men got an unhealthy dose of injustice. Now, the tables have been turned and it's Nifong on the receiving end of justice delayed but, fortunately, not ultimately denied.

Wisely and appropriately, the North Carolina State Bar disciplinary committee hearing his case sharply rebuked him and ordered his disbarment. The Duke administrators and faculty members who joined the lynch mob against the lacrosse players will probably avoid discipline but can't escape disgrace.

In broader terms, this scandal should stimulate a reappraisal of gender favoritism in our criminal justice system. The scales of justice are out of balance. At a time when feminist activists who exploit these kinds of issues demand equal treatment for women in combat, they also insist on preferences and deference for "the weaker sex" when women accuse men of crimes.

When police respond to a report of domestic violence in Denver, under the law an arrest must be made. Routinely, it's the man who spends the night in jail. When a woman accuses a man of rape, her name is withheld and his is made public. The rationalization is that without the protection of anonymity, some women might be ashamed to come forward. And the automatic presumption is that all such charges are true in spite of the reality that false charges of rape are often motivated by personal malice or attempts to cover up indiscreet sexual behavior...

On 4/6/06 this is part of Crystal's detailed official handwritten statement to Police:

Brett, Adam, and Matt took me into the bathroom while the other guys were watching television, and they closed the door slightly. Matt grabbed me and looked at me, he said "sweetheart you can't leave" He grabbed the back of my neck and said I'm going to kill you Nigger Bitch if you don't shut up. They were all scream we are going to fuck this Nigger Bitch.

They started kicking me in my behind, and my back. Matt stood behind me and bent me over onto my knees and Adam stood in front of me. Adam said I can't do this I'm getting married, and Matt and Brett said "yes, you can do it." Matt started having sex with me in my vagina and he got frustrated because he said he couldn't cum, He had sex me for about 2 minutes in my vagina, He then placed his penis in my anus for about 3 minutes.

He said "I'm done" come on try some Adam. Adam said I can't do it. Brett said, I will.So Brett got behinde me while Matt held my legs. When Brett had sex with me in my vagina he stopped after about 5 minutes, then he put his penis in my anus for about 2 minutes, When Brett said that he was done, Adam said he was done also. Matt hit me in my face while Dan and Brett kicked me and called me "Nigger Bitch. I heard Nikki on the other side of the door, and when Adam opened the door she rushed in and helped Adam to get me dressed. They dragged me out to the car because my legs wouldn't move.

Crystal added to the end of her handwritten statement:

I would like to add that Adam ejaculated in my mouth and I spit it out onto the floor, part of it fell onto the floor after he pulled his penis out.

Note in the above story Matt raped her first.

This is straight from Gottlieb's notes of her description of the attack told to the DPD on 3/16:

... She thinks it was the master bathroom. When she was inside the bathroom, she recalled the door closig, but could not recall which one of the men closed the door. She stated one of the men, Adam stated, "I'm sorry sweetheart you can't leave". At the same time all three men who she could identify by first name only grabbed her. The men were named "ADAM, BRETT, and MATT". She stated Matt grabbed her by her legs and then she stated they forced her head down inside the toilet and wall and began to rape her as she was on all fours. She stated Brett was behind her and was first to sodomize and then rape her. She stated Brett ejaculated and then stated, "I'm done it's your turn". She stated while the sexual assault was taking place they were yelling at here "Fuck this Nigger Bitch" and "Fucking Nigger". She stated that Matt was next to assault her. He attempted to "put it in my ass but it was so sore he started to choke me from behind "because I was screaming so loud." She stated she could not breath and remembered trying to get his arm off from around her throat. She stated she broke fingernails off in the process. (False fingernails that were painted red.)I looked at her right hand and notice four were missing. She stated Matt then penetrated her rectum, and at the same time Adam became excited while he was masturbating off to the side he pulled he up and he stuck his penis around her lips and mouth. She stated she spit the fluid out on the side of the toilet. At that point Matt then moved around to her front side where he penetrated her vaginally. She described the three men as 1) W/M, young, blonde hair, baby faced, tall and lean ...

comment: Many details changed between Mangum's March 16th police interview (as later documented by Sgt. Gottlieb) and her April 6th statement. The Durham investigators intentionally overlooked Mangum's many discrepancies. Pitiful.

1) Who said "sweetheart you can't leave?"

Mangum written statement: MattGottlieb notes: Adam

2) Who raped Mangum first?

Mangum written statement: MattGottlieb notes: Brett

3) Was Mangum strangled or choked:

Mangum written statement: NoGottlieb notes: Yes

4) Were artificial fingernails lost in struggle?

Mangum written statement: NoGottlieb notes: Yes

There are also discrepancies between the above versions and the probable cause affidavits. The false accuser, Crystal Mangum, and the Durham police had a different version of this crime for every day in the week.

90. In the affidavits used to establish probable cause and secure warrants in this case, the State represented that the accuser was sexually assaulted over a 30 minute time period. See, e.g., Discovery at 460 (Probable Cause Affidavit for March 23, 2006). In her handwritten statement, the accuser wrote that Matt assaulted her for 5 minutes, that Brett assaulted her for 7 minutes, did not put a time on the length of Adam’s oral assault, and then describes being beaten before and after the assaults for some length of time. Discovery at 810. However, on September 22, 2006, the District Attorney represented to the court that he did not believe that the entire assault took more than 10 minutes,...

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What Did “Nikki” Do?

93. In her statements to the ACCESS nurse, Officer GD Sutton, Officer BS Jones, Sgt. JC Shelton, and on the Sexual Exam Assault Report, the accuser claimed that Nikki stole her money and carried he back into the house along with the attackers. Discovery at 1981, 1304 1308, 1310, 538. The accuser's statement of April 6 mentions none of these things and portrays the second dancer as a fellow victim of the assault who rescued her, rather than helping the men carry out the assault and then stealing her money.

132. Moreover, during the April 4, 2006 PowerPoint Identification procedure, the accuser identifies Collin Finnerty as "the guy who assaulted me. He put his penis in my anus and my vagina." The accuser specifically says that Collin was the "second one" to penetrate her.

133. In the accuser's handwritten statement given to the police two days after her identification of Collin she says that the second assailant to penetrate her was the one who went by the name of "Bret." Discovery at 810.

134. As noted above, on March 16, 2006, two days after the alleged assault, the accuser described "Brett" to Inv. Himan as "chubby." Collin Finnerty, at 6’5” and 215 pounds, would never be described as "chubby."

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KC Johnson:The Meehan Deposition -- As in his testimony at Mike Nifong’s ethics hearing, Meehan was difficult to pin down and overly wordy. But in several key areas, he was damning for Nifong—perhaps even more so than he would be in the hearing itself...

Nifong’s Perjury Trap

Meehan was clear on two points: (1) on May 12, “we first reviewed the information in the case entirely . . . we then went over the report”; and (2) he had a “specific” conversation with Nifong that the May 12 report was not a final report.

Indeed, if these sections of Meehan’s deposition are to be believed, Nifong would seem to have committed perjury both in his unequivocal statement that between May 12 and December 13, he never read the report; and in his deposition claim that he considered the May 12 report a final report, if with the material on the unidentified male DNA included...

Kathleen Parker, TownHall.com:Hate Crimes and Special Victims: An Un-American Story -- The fallacy of hate crime laws -- the prosecution of which requires a degree of mind-reading not yet available to most Earthlings -- has been cast into stark relief the past few weeks following an interracial rape-murder that has bestirred white supremacists and led to death threats against an African-American columnist.

The spark that caused the firestorm was the brutal rape-murder of a young white couple, Channon Christian and Chris Newsom, who were carjacked last January in Knoxville, Tenn. Five blacks -- four men and a woman -- have been charged in connection with the slayings.

Because the story didn't receive national media attention, some commentators and others have asserted that the media do not treat racial crimes equally...

The perception of media bias is understandable -- and a credible case can be made that the media rushed to condemn the Duke athletes because it fit a recognizable racial narrative, especially in the South. But while race was clearly a factor in stimulating media interest, other factors absent from the Knoxville case -- privilege, town and gown conflicts, politics, underage drinking and the name Duke -- also added to the broader ``story'' appeal ...